Connections
by TennisMagic
Summary: Atobe did not have crushes, crushes were for little children and silly girls. He may, however, have formed some particularly close emotional connections with different people in his young life. One-sided Atobe/Lots of people! Eventual AtoJi/Adorable Pair.
1. Tarquin

Being a well-travelled and outgoing young man, Atobe Keigo had met a lot of people in his young life. Some were friends, some were business contacts, but all of them had an impact on him in their own way. With most people, Atobe kept his distance, but he may have developed a more intense connection with just a few.

Anyone else would call them crushes, but Atobe did _not_ have trivial little things like that. Not at all.

* * *

><p>The first person Atobe had such a connection with was a boy in his class back in England. Tarquin Middleton-Smythe; a sensible boy, witty, he did things that made sense rather than silly, emotional things like the girls. He was a lot like Atobe himself in a lot of ways – the eldest son of a wealthy family, set to inherit his father's company, popular, intelligent. They had met on the first day of school and quickly deemed one another to be suitable company, remaining friends throughout their primary school years. Not a year went by that one of them would not attend the other's birthday party, and if Atobe hadn't moved to Japan, it probably would have stayed that way.<p>

They were about ten when Atobe realised he liked Tarquin a lot more than other people, and that was fine. They would play together during playtime, ignoring the other members of the class, and it was only natural that Atobe would find himself more attached to his best friend.

On a rainy day, when the children had to play inside between lessons, a couple of girls asked Atobe and Tarquin if they wanted to play house.  
>"Keigo, I'll be your wife," Corinthia waved through the window of the play house in which Atobe and Tarquin were having a very important meeting, "Lauren wants to be Tarquin's wife."<br>"I'm not sure I want you to be my wife." Atobe sipped some imaginary tea from a plastic cup, before placing it and the matching red saucer on the table. Corinthia pulled a face.  
>"Lauren's taller than you, so she can't be your wife. That means I'm your wife." She opened the playhouse door and went in, attempting to tie an apron around her waist. "Can you tie me? It's hard when the string is behind you. You can be my husband coming home from a long hard day of being the prime minister and I'll make you a cup of tea."<p>

"I'll tie your apron, but I've already got some tea, thank you." Atobe tied the girl's apron in a neat bow. "Isn't this a nurse apron?"  
>"Yes, but it was the only one left in the dressing up box – Jessica stole the other one because she wanted to play shop. I can be your <em>nurse<em> wife, and you got a huuuuuuuge paper cut when you were at work writing letters to the Queen, so I can make you all better!"

Tarquin, who had until now been pouring himself another cup of imaginary tea, rolled his eyes and set down the teapot as Lauren wandered in carrying a baby doll. "I don't want to marry Lauren, and Keigo doesn't want to marry you. Now if you don't mind, we're in the middle of a very important business meeting and you just interrupted. No babies in the boardroom!"  
>The girls just glared and left with a huff, looking for someone else to play with and talking very loudly about how much fun it was going to be. Atobe and Tarquin stuck their tongues out in their direction, then went back to their 'tea'.<p>

"So, those stocks?" Atobe picked up a plastic biscuit and pretended to take a bite out of it.  
>"Meeting postponed, my ponytail fell out." Tarquin grumbled, pulling the hair elastic out and retying his ponytail. He kicked a toy toaster out from under the table and sighed. "Didn't want to marry Lauren anyway, it would never have worked."<p>

"Mm, I know what you mean. She fell asleep in the reading corner yesterday and she _snores_."  
>"No, it's not just that." Tarquin stirred his imaginary tea with a small fork, as the spoons had all gone missing. "It's just like, marriage doesn't <em>work<em> like that. Marriage is like…it's like…it's like a business partnership."

"I guess you're right," Atobe nodded, picking up the teapot and topping up his own cup of tea, "it takes lots of work, and there's two very different parties involved and you've got to be able to do what both of them want."  
>"That, and if you want to justify the investment, you've got to make it look like you're actually benefiting from the partnership." He sighed. "Grownups don't get it. They just pick people they like and don't think about how well they work together. I mean, you have to balance each other out but still have enough in common that you can work together on one goal, right?"<p>

"M-hm. And like business, if you do too many important things with somebody else, you end up being ditched and losing lots of money."

"Just like Uncle Charles's first wife." The two of them paused to wave out of the playhouse window at the teacher, who had come to check on them. Atobe handed Tarquin a plate with a slice of plastic cake on it, and he pretended to eat it with his tea-fork until the teacher left.

"Liking them helps," Atobe rolled up his sleeves as he spoke, "but really, you need to be compatible."  
>"Yeah…" Tarquin shook the plastic salt shaker over his cup before realising what he was doing. He tossed the unfortunate cup out of the playhouse window, and the pair hoped it wouldn't hit anybody. "Thought it was sugar. You know, Keigo, we should make a business partnership one day. When I own father's company, and you own your dad's. We're compatible, I think. And you're not stupid like a girl."<p>

Atobe's stomach fluttered a little bit, and he wondered briefly if there was something wrong with his tea. He liked the idea of forming a business partnership with Tarquin; he liked that idea a lot. They could keep in touch forever that way, even if Atobe's father was being serious about moving to Japan. He did hope his father _wasn't_ being serious, in case he lost Tarquin forever. Maybe if they kept in touch, they could get married someday.

Could boys even marry boys? Atobe wasn't sure, but he didn't feel like he should really ask the teacher about that.

He sipped at his imaginary tea thoughtfully, wondering if it was worth asking Tarquin about getting married one day. On the one hand, their two companies could easily work together, but on the other hand, if anything did go wrong it would be very hard to fix. 'The successful businessman is made of stone' as Atobe's father always said.

Not to mention that Atobe needed to have a son one day, so _he_ could take over the company. Boys couldn't exactly make babies on their own, they needed girls for that. Tarquin needed to have a son, too, so they both needed to marry girls so they could have babies.

And besides…hadn't Tarquin held Lauren's hand crossing the street on their last class trip? He probably fancied her, really.

Atobe suddenly found himself with a colouring book pushed into his hands, a pencil set down on the table in front of him.

"Those are the assets I want, Mr Atobe. Name your price."

Smiling softly at his friend, Atobe picked up the pencil and opened it to the first page.  
>How many zeroes were there in a trillion again?<p> 


	2. Oshitari

The second person to catch Atobe's attention was one Oshitari Yuushi.

Indeed, from the moment Oshitari had set foot on the tennis court to oppose him, Atobe had found himself completely captivated by the other boy. Oshitari's flirtatious manner, lingering touches and already-broken voice did nothing to help Atobe's transition into puberty go smoothly, and wholly inappropriate thoughts about his classmate often invaded his mind when he was trying to concentrate on something else.

At first, Atobe had no idea what was happening to him; only that it was incredibly embarrassing and had to be kept to himself. As the thoughts became more vivid and being around Oshitari at school became more awkward, he turned to the internet for some advice.  
>While being reassured that he definitely wasn't alone in the situation, it didn't exactly help the thoughts stop.<p>

He knew he wasn't the only one so…_distracted_ by Oshitari – girls fawned over him, a lot of the boys would blush when he spoke to them, and the little redheaded one from tennis club quickly developed a habit of leaving the showers every time Oshitari entered, his face matching his hair. It didn't help that he had no idea if Oshitari was interested in him or not, since he appeared to flirt with anyone and everyone.

Was that just how he was? Or did he know how badly he affected those around him and played up to that? Atobe sincerely hoped it was the former, as for the latter to be true; he'd have to be showing weakness obviously enough for Oshitari to see. That would be _very_ bad, especially since Oshitari was never without his glasses.

In tennis, Atobe considered Oshitari to be the second most skilled on the team – below himself, of course. He wanted the other boy to play singles two, to shine as a singles player, to be like him. At first, it seemed as though Oshitari was aiming for singles two as well, and Atobe encouraged him. They trained together after practice was over almost every day, they would meet on the weekends, rallying until the sun went down and it was, frequently, past their bedtimes. And Atobe loved those times. It seemed that only he could push Oshitari to his limit, coerce him to return Atobe's shots with all the power he could muster, have him chasing the ball from side to side, wearing him down. Then they would shake hands over the net, Atobe's chest swelling with pride at his hard earned victory, and he would feel as if an electric current was rushing up his arm and straight to his heart, his pulse racing.

Of course, then they would go to shower and Atobe would suddenly lose all his confidence, always making sure to shower as far away from Oshitari as possible.

"See you tomorrow." Oshitari would say, every time without fail. And every time Atobe would simply nod in response and the pair would go their separate ways.  
>Of course they would see each other tomorrow, they always did, and Atobe was a little ashamed of how much that fact affected him. He would wake up half an hour before his alarm to give himself extra time to wash his face, perfect his hair, hide any blemishes that had the sheer gall to appear on his face – not that they appeared often. Something about knowing Oshitari would be there made Atobe extra-fussy over his appearance, even though he obviously looked perfect all the time. He needed to make sure, needed to be <em>extra<em>-perfect, especially since Oshitari always looked amazing and apparently just fell out of bed and put his uniform on in the mornings.

"Good morning." Atobe opened the door to his classroom one morning to find Oshitari sitting on _his_ desk, smirking at him in that way that made him really really need to sit down. Wasn't this how a lot of those dreams started? Shoving the thoughts out of his mind, Atobe hung his bag on the side of the desk and sat on his chair, seemingly oblivious to the boy on the desk.

"Good morning." He finally gave his classmate a reply while hunting in his bag for his math homework. "Is there something wrong with your chair, Oshitari?"

"No, I just felt like sitting here." That smirk again, and Oshitari took off his glasses to clean them.

"How is your leg, by the way? You tripped yesterday, after all, and I don't want you holding everyone up at practice today."

"It's fine, thank you for your concern." Atobe swallowed and hoped the fluttering in his stomach didn't show. He'd actually been pretty worried about Oshitari since yesterday – the other boy had landed on his leg at a very strange angle and Atobe had ended up helping him walk back to the showers. Apparently the hot water had helped a lot, but it didn't put Atobe's mind even remotely at ease. "Say, have you seen Mukahi around today?"

Mukahi…that was the little red haired whiny one from practice; the one who sulked in the corner of the lunchroom with Shishido and complained about everybody and everything and was always tired after about ten minutes of tennis. "I haven't seen him, no."

"Oh…" Oshitari appeared…disappointed? "I was hoping to ask him something at practice today. He'd better turn up."

_Yes, he'd better turn up_. Atobe thought to himself. He and Akutagawa had both skipped last Friday because a new videogame had come out and they needed to play it. Needless to say, the pair of them had run plenty of laps for that little infraction of the rules. "What did you need to ask him?"

"Well, I've been thinking for a while that I quite fancy playing doubles." _What?_ "Mukahi's got a pretty flashy style, but can't hold up well by himself, right? I figured if he's good enough in a pair with Shishido, whose play style is full of holes, he'd be even better in a pair with me." Oshitari smiled then; not like the cheeky smirk he'd been wearing up until that moment, but a genuine, somewhat wistful smile. Atobe just looked at the floor and held in a sigh. "I mean, Hyoutei's weakness right now is doubles, isn't it? May as well try to patch the hole."

Oshitari was right, of course. Hyoutei had no shortage of talented singles players, but a common trait of almost all Hyoutei students – tennis team or not – was pride. Indeed, the great many singles players in the Hyoutei tennis club may have been regional or even national level for all it mattered, but not one of them had the capacity to take a step down and cooperate with somebody else. And yes, Mukahi _was_ a good doubles player, all he needed was the right partner, someone stable and well rounded to balance out his unpredictable style. Oshitari was the right someone whether Atobe liked it or not.

"I'm sure the coach will agree with you; it's a good plan. You just have to hope Mukahi doesn't kick you in the shin when you ask him."

"He won't, at least, not very hard. I'm sure I can convince him." Oshitari grinned, then raised an eyebrow at Atobe's math homework. "Oh, you forgot to write your name on that."

"Ah, thank you." At first, Atobe was simply grateful to Oshitari for his observation and set about writing his name on his homework sheet, then it occurred to him. Oshitari's glasses were still in his _hand _and not on his _face_. Rather than say anything about it, he looked up at his classmate, cleared his throat and gestured to his eyes before going back to checking his homework for any other glaring errors.

"Oh. Yes. Nobody else is going to know about that, okay? I like to think these make me look smarter."

_So…_

_That's how it was…_

At practice that afternoon, Atobe just happened to overhear Oshitari and Mukahi talking. Although Mukahi had rolled his eyes at Oshitari's suggestion and 'reluctantly' agreed while warning Oshitari that should he embarrass the both of them on the courts he would be castrated with a tennis racket, the flush of excitement on Mukahi's cheeks told a very different story. The exchange gave Atobe an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach, but he did his best not to dwell on it for long.

After all, wasn't Oshitari lying to everybody about his eyesight? Who knew what other things he could be hiding from the world? Whenever they surfaced, it would be Mukahi's problem, not Atobe's.

That didn't stop Atobe from assigning Mukahi a deliciously satisfying number of laps for swearing, though.


End file.
